Pete Hoekstra Wants to Repeal Wall Street Reform Legislation

On Monday, the Huffington Post reported that former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. According to Amanda Terkel’s story: “Former Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra, who is now running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, called for the repeal of Wall Street reform legislation on Monday, arguing that ‘the heavy hand of the federal government’ is making it impossible for bankers to do their jobs.”

Thirteen banks in Michigan have failed since the economic collapse of 2008, according to the FDIC. Michigan has the 7th highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 417 households in foreclosure. And now Pete Hoekstra wants to repeal legislation passed by Congress aimed specifically at reining in the abusive and reckless practices that got us into this mess?

While Hoekstra has yet to file any campaign reports with the FEC for his Senate bid, we have to wonder if his call to give the big banks back their power was nothing more than a fundraising pitch.

Here are some numbers on Hoekstra’s previous financial industry fundraising:

During his time in Congress, Hoekstra raised $318,300 from the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In 2011, Hoekstra began working in the lobbying practice at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro, a firm that famously represented convicted investment banker Bernie Madoff. They are done representing him because he needed a criminal attorney and not a lobbyist. Of course, as some have argued, what Wall Street lobbyists and CEOs did and got away with amounts to the crime of the century.